a May 5th, 2006

Many things have happened to Karen and I in the past few months to change our lives. We had planned a trip to Colorado for six weeks in July and August; however, the best laid plans….. Chad and April announced they are expecting their fourth child August 6 and since Chad will be out of town recruiting at that time, they may induce labor August 1 (that is if April can wait that long). Boy or girl, no one will know until the birth. Ergo we now are planning an earlier departure to be home for the blessed event. Going to spend time in Ruidoso and Chama, NM – Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Gunnison, Breckenridge, and Estes Park, CO before heading back to 100 degree temperatures in Oklahoma.

Our present home of 35 years has four bedrooms upstairs and we have dreaded the day in the future when we could no longer climb those twelve steps. We set a date next March to look for an existing one-story home and sell the old homestead. Well, we have learned that at our level of maturity, planning is not all what it is cracked up to be!

One Sunday afternoon, I convinced Karen to at least look at several new homes on the market today and see what we might expect when we started looking next spring. Well, Monday we signed on the dotted line to build a new home in Norman. In attempting to down size from our present 2400 square feet, we now stand at 2600; however, we have everything we ever desired in a home and are both very excited. In justifying the decision, we have decided you only live once. It was quite comical as we made numerous decisions, we kept being told “you might want to consider the resale value.” The builder soon discovered we did not wish to hear the “R” word as we do not plan on being around to worry about the resale value. The building process will take 8 months and puts us at just about the right time to put our house on the market.

Summer is just around the corner and we are busy attending soccer and T-Ball games. Hope this finds you and yours well.